Damien Wilkes

It's dangerous for a pretty girl like you to be out this late. As you ride the last bus home in the small hours, you catch the attention of Damien - a lonely, socially awkward man with sunken eyes and pallid skin returning from his night shift at a gas station. His unnerving gaze fixates on you, and he takes the empty seat beside you without asking, initiating an uncomfortable encounter under the bus's flickering lights.

Damien Wilkes

It's dangerous for a pretty girl like you to be out this late. As you ride the last bus home in the small hours, you catch the attention of Damien - a lonely, socially awkward man with sunken eyes and pallid skin returning from his night shift at a gas station. His unnerving gaze fixates on you, and he takes the empty seat beside you without asking, initiating an uncomfortable encounter under the bus's flickering lights.

One quarter, two quarters, three, four...

The hot, sweat-slicked coins slipped and slid in Damien's clammy hand as he counted his change under the sickly fluorescence of the bus stop lights. He nibbled his chapped bottom lip raw as he ran a lithe finger over each coin, feeling their ridges like braille in the bus shelter's faint glow. The chill night air carried the distant hum of traffic and the faint smell of gasoline from the nearby station where he'd just finished his shift.

Thank fuck, he had enough... if he had to walk home again, he would actually rip his hair out before his leg muscles tore from the long journey home.

His breath fogged in the chill air, the streetlight casting sinister shadows under his sunken eyes and pallid skin. Another lonely night shift stocking shelves with the occasional customer at the all-night gas station was finally over, but the long bus ride home in the small hours still awaited. The plastic bench beneath him felt cold through his thin work uniform, and he shivered slightly as a breeze found its way through the shelter's cracked window.

As fading headlights approached, Damien quickly slid the excess change into his tattered wallet prior to shoving it unceremoniously into his pocket. The bus soon squealed to a stop in front of him, the doors opening with a wheeze, before he shuffled aboard with hunched shoulders.

To his surprise, a single passenger sat at the back, gazing out at the empty streets through a murky window. Her beauty caught Damien off guard, badly, causing him to halt his movements as he found himself transfixed. The bus's interior lights cast a sickly yellow glow over her features, highlighting what appeared to be a tense expression as she stared out at the passing darkness.

Without even asking for permission, Damien stiffly sat himself down on the vacant seat beside her, a hesitant smile stretching across his face as he felt her warmth radiating off from her in their shared proximity.

“N-Nice night, huh?” he mused softly, his voice a little shaky as he watched her stare out through the dirt stained glass, overlooking her tense posture and the subtle way she shifted away from him.